Stitch and seam opener



May 20, 1952 K. c. BUGG 2,597,564

I STITCH AND SEAM OPENER Filed Jan. 51, 1948 46 IN V EN TOR.

Ken/56% B! iw I Patented May 20, 1952;

OFFICE 2,597,564 s'rrron AND SEAM OPENER.

' Kenly C. Bugg, Fort Wayne, Ind.

Application January 31, 1948, Serial No. 5,611

3 Claims.

This invention pertains to a cutting device and more particularly to a device adapted to easily out a thread of a stitch tightly'holding pieces of cloth together and is also adapted to readily open a seam between pieces of cloth by cutting the remainder or all of the stitch.

It is an object of this invention to provide a tool to be used in sewing which is adapted to readily pick a stitch and sever it no matter how tightly sewn, and is adapted to readily open a seam by severing the stitches thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cutting tool to be used in sewing wherein the handle is in the form of a thimble so that the tool is self-advertising as to its use, and readily useable by one skilled in the art of sewing.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cutting tool to be used in sewing wherein a plurality of cutting means is provided for serial related use wherein the blades of the cutting means are so arranged that they are readily safe against injury.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cutting tool to be used in sewing wherein the cutting means of the blade is so constructed that the stitches can be readily out without injuring the adjacent cloth.

With these and various other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction and operation as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the specificatiom drawings and claims appended hereto.

In the'drawings, which illustrate an embodiment; of the device and wherein like reference characters are used to designate like parts- Figure 1 is an enlarged perspective elevation of a thread picking and seam opening device embodying the invention;

Figure 2is a top plan view of the cutting device illustrated in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional elevation taken substantially in the plane as indicated by the line 33 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a sectional elevation through a portion of the blade of the cutting device illustrated in Figure 3, the same being taken substantially in the plane as indicated by the line 44 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary illustration showing in use the cutting tool illustrated in Figures 1 to 4, the same showing picking and severing a stitch; and,

Figure 6 is a fragmentary illustration showing another use for the cutting tool illustrated in Figures 1, to 4, the sameshowing a seam being opened thereby.

The cutting tool It] comprises a handle l2 shown in the form of a thimble. A thimble form of handle preferably is provided because it. is readily useable by one in sewing, the user is familiar with utilizing a thimble as operating means, and it associates the tool with the trade in which it is to be used so that the use is selfe advertising. 7 I

The top [4 of the thimble is slit as at it, and the blade member I8 is press fitted in said. top I4 through said slit Hi, the blade being shouldered at 20 to properly position the blade, and the thimble being dimpled as at 2| to facilitateholding the blade tightly and preventing it from being pushed back into the thimble. The blade member is preferably of fiat stock, and made of metal capable of having cutting edges ground or otherwise formed thereon. r

A side portion 22 of the blade member 18 is unsharpened and extends upwardly from the top I4 and may be substantially parallel to'the axis of the thimble l2. The top end or edge 24 of the blade member is rounded 'or arcuate and unsharpened and the arcuatecutting' edge 26 is formed in the blade member on one side edge between the top edge 24'and the side portion 22 of said side edge in such a manner that a picking and cutting point 28 is provided. 3 The are of edge 24 is'so generated and the cutting edge 26 is so formed that the point 28 is preferably" outwardly of a lineextendedupwardly from edge 22 as viewed in Figure 3,-thereby giving a better pitch to the point facilitating its use. This pick pointing is accomplished by arcuately grinding the edge so that it is carriedinto the top edge 24 of the blade whereby a wedge (or hollow ground) shape is formed asshown in Figure 4.

The opposite'side edge is: ground forming an arcuateknife edge 30 which,'how'ever, extends into and terminates in the arcuatetop 24, but-- a flat portion 32 is provided whereby a blade is so formed that when a seam is being opened an adequate guard is provided to prevent cutting the cloth.

In the use of this device it is of course understood that it is readily useable to separate pieces of material at the seam, or stitches may be removed from surfaces of material.

In Figure 6 seam separation is illustrated. In this case, the operator may slip the thimble of the device on one finger 34 of his hand 36 and by holding or positioning and guiding it with another finger or his thumb 38, may insert the 3 pick point 28 into the seam to pick up and cut a stitch by cutting edge 26. Thereafter the thimble can be rotated on finger 34 to utilize edge 30 to quickly cut the remainder of the stitches holding the pieces 40 and 42 together. The shape of the cutting portions of the blade member [8 are such that the stitches can be readily out without cutting the cloth.

In picking stitches from the surfaces of material, as shown in Figure 5, the thimble I2 is placed as on finger 34 and grasped and guided as by thumb 38 to insert the pick point 28 under the stitch loop of the stitching 44 on surface 46 of the material. Raising the loops of the stitches causes cutting edge 28 to cut the loop so that the stitch-" ing is cut and readily removed.

With the cutting edges of the blade is formed as described herein, a relatively safe tool is provided, because if the tool is stored either vertically as shown in Figure 1, or laid on its side, and the hand is accidentally placed on it, it will rarely be cut because of the protective manner in which the cutting edges are placed and formed.

It is to be understood that this application is not to be limited by the act embodiments of t -e device shown, which are merely by Way of illustration and not limitation as various and other forms of the device will, of course, be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. In a device of the character described, the combination of a thimble handle, comprising a substantially tubular member having an open end and a closed end, said closed end having a slit extending diametrically thereof, a blade extending through said slit and upwardly from said closed end, said blade having side edges and a rounded outer end which is unsharpened, the side edges having reentrant, arcuate sharpened cutting edges formed thereon of different radii, the arcuate cutting edge of smaller radius merging into said rounded outer end to form a sharp point and the radius thereof being small enough to leave a portion of its respective side edge unsharpened, the said sharp point extending outwardly of a line extended upwardly from the unsharpened side edge, the arcuate cutting edge of larger radius extending for substantially the entire length of its respective side edge from adjacent the thimble handle to the rounded outer end, a flat portion being provided where said cutting edge merges into the rounded outer end and which flat portion is substantially parallel to the axis of the thimble handle, and means in said thimble handle for securing the inner end of the blade to prevent said blade from being withdrawn from said thimble handle either internally or externally thereof, the thimble handle being rotatable on an operators finger without removal thereof whereby the action of one cutting edge can supplement that of another, without substantial interruption in the constant use of the device.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination of a thimble handle, comprising a substantially tubular member having an open end and a closed end, said closed end having a slit extending diametrically thereof, a blade formed of flat plate of uniform thickness extending through said slit and upwardly from said closed end, said plate having a rounded outer end which is unsharpened and having side edges longer than said end, said side edges having reentrant, arcuate sharpened cutting edges formed thereon of different radii, the arcuate cutting edge of smaller radius being located in the outer half of its respective side edge adjacent the rounded outer end thus leaving the inner half of said side edge unsharpened and whereby said arcuate cutting edge merges into the rounded outer end to form a sharp point, and the arcuate cutting edge of larger radius extending substantially the entire length of its respective side edge from adjacent the thimble handle to the rounded outer end.

3. A blade for a device of the character described, said blade being formed from a flat plate of substantially uniform thickness, said plate having outer and inner ends and side edges which are longer than said ends, the inner end of the plate being provided with oppositely extending positioning shoulders and said outer end being rounded and unsharpened, the side edges having reentrant, arcuate sharpened cutting edges formed thereon of different radii, the arcuate cutting edge of smaller radius being located in the outer half of its respective side edge adjacent the rounded outer end thus leaving the inner half of said side edge unsharpened and whereby said arcuate cutting edge merges into the rounded outer end to form a sharp point, and the arcuate cutting edge of larger radius extending substantially the entire length of its respective side edge from adjacent a positioning shoulder to the rounded outer end.

KENLY C. BUGG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date D. 155,386 Bugg Oct. 4, 1949 213,124 McIntosh Mar. 11, 1379 334,724 Ruekstuhl Jan. 19, 1886 514,811 Carder Feb. 13, 1894 1,190,052 Welander July 4, 1916 1,299,971 Lincoln Apr. 8, 1919 1,988,386 Komperud Jan. 15, 1935 2,007,700 Ziminski July 9, 1935 

